We'll talk about the status of a chalal or a chalalah (woman disqualified from the priesthood) and how it is passed down to the next generation. A chalal is a product of a relationship that's prohibited between a kohen (priest) and a person that they're not allowed to be with. For example, if a kohen marries a gerusha, a divorced woman, and they have a child, a boy would be a chalal, and a daughter would be a chalalah. We'll talk about how a chalal or a chalalah continues on. A chalal loses his status as a kohen, and a chalalah is not allowed to marry a kohen. A regular chalal is allowed to marry a Yisrael (Israelite), as we'll explain in this Mishnah. The Mishnah says, “The daughter of a male chalal is not allowed to marry a kohen.” She's not allowed to marry into the kehunah (priesthood) forever. She's a chalalah and is not allowed to marry a kohen.
The chalal status is passed on from father to son in perpetuity. The son is always a chalal, and the status continues all the way down the line of male descendants. You can continue going down the line—the son, the grandson of that first problematic relationship. In every generation, their daughter is never allowed to marry a kohen. She's allowed to marry a regular Yisrael, but she's never allowed to marry a kohen because everyone down the male line is a chalal. Their daughter is a chalalah, and that daughter can't marry a kohen. But if that daughter marries a Yisrael, as we'll say now, Yisrael marries a chalalah, their daughter is allowed to marry into the kehunah forever. She is not a chalalah, because the status of a chalalah is not passed down from a chalalah to her children. The same is true of the male: their son would not be considered a chalal, and we'll explain the reasoning behind this.
When there's a relationship between a man and a woman who are technically permitted to each other, and the kiddushin (halachic betrothal) takes effect, the child takes on the same status as the father. A chalal is allowed to marry a regular Yisrael woman. If they have a child, their relationship is entirely allowed and permitted, and their children become chalalim because they follow their father. But if the child is male, the sons continue to retain that status. It goes on forever. The daughters don't pass it on. They take it for one generation, but once they marry somebody they are allowed to marry, the status does not pass on to their children. If a chalalah marries a Yisrael, they have a child, that relationship is permitted, and there's kiddushin; that child now takes on the status of their father, who was a regular Yisrael. So the chalalut (chalal status) gets lost by the mother.
And that's what we say: if a Yisrael marries a chalalah, who is the daughter of this problematic relationship, that marriage, like we just said, is allowed. They then have a daughter. That daughter is not a chalalah because the status of a chalalah is not passed down to her children. The same is true of her son. Her son is not a chalal because his mother was a chalalah. The father is a regular Yisrael, and he takes on the status of his father, who is a regular Yisrael.
Chalal shenasa bat Yisrael: If a chalal, though—a male chalal—married a bat Yisrael, a daughter of Yisrael, bito pesulah l'kehunah: their daughter, like we said earlier, is unfit to marry into the kehunah because she's the daughter of a chalal, so she becomes a chalalah, like we mentioned above. We're just repeating this for uniformity in the Mishnah.
So, just to lay it out one more time, the chalalut transfers through the male line. In every generation of that male line, their daughter would not be allowed to marry a kohen. But if their daughter married a Yisrael, they clean themselves, and therefore their children have no problem, because they go after their father, who is a regular Yisrael. If the daughter married a kohen, that would be a problematic relationship between a kohen and a chalalah, and their children would remain chalalim. If the chalal—the man—has boys, they continue to be chalalim, one generation after the next. If they have a daughter, she just can't, like we said, marry a kohen. If they marry a Yisrael, they're okay; their children continuously become chalalim. They're not doing anything wrong if they marry a regular Yisrael woman, a Yisraelit (Israelite woman), but if they have children, their son remains a chalal in perpetuity.
Rabbi Yehuda compares a convert to a chalal. He says the daughter of a male convert is like the daughter of a male chalal. A male chalal passes on his chalalut to his daughter, and his daughter therefore can't marry a kohen. Rabbi Yehuda says the same thing applies to a male convert. If a male convert marries a regular Jewish girl, his daughter retains some of that conversion, that gerut, from him, and therefore their daughter is not allowed to marry a kohen as well.